Moskowitz Backs Corrupt Ruben Diaz Jr. To Take On Corrupt Bill de Blasio

This is funny:

Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz may not be running for mayor in 2017, but she's raised money for a potential candidate charter school supporters are hoping can unseat Mayor Bill de Blasio — Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

Moskowitz finished bundling nearly $15,000 for Diaz in May 2015 — six months before she held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to announce she would not challenge de Blasio in 2017, even though she’d been hinting at a run all summer. The early fundraising effort demonstrates that the city’s charter sector, and its legion of wealthy supporters on Wall Street, are open to a Diaz candidacy, should he choose to challenge de Blasio.

Moskowitz appears to have held a fundraiser for the borough president on July 22, 2014 — nine of the 11 contributions were made on that date — and then did a second round of fundraising on May 7, 2015, when she netted two more contributions for Diaz.

A spokesman for Moskowitz declined to answer questions for this story, including why she raised money for Diaz when she was still indicating her own interest in running for mayor, and why she supports Diaz’s potential bid.

Diaz’s 2017 campaign account does not indicate what office he is seeking, and he has not ruled out a potential run for mayor. He has raised $833,924 and spent $372,912, campaign finance records show. De Blasio, by comparison, has raised a little more than $1.1 million and spent $244,761.

De Blasio's vulnerable to a challenger next year because of all the corruption probes, but here's the thing about Moskowitz backing Diaz Jr. for a run against the mayor:

Diaz Jr.has his own corruption problems.

Take this story from the NY Times in 2007, for example:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating allegations of corruption against two Bronx lawmakers — State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. and his son, Assemblyman Rubén Díaz Jr., according to an official familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The investigation, first reported by The Daily News, came to light on Thursday, when F.B.I. agents visited the city’s Board of Elections office in the Bronx seeking voter petitions and other records for the elder Mr. Díaz and his son. The agents obtained copies of their personal voter registration and voter history records as well as candidate petitions signed by voters, a Board of Elections spokeswoman said.

And this NY Post story from 2012:

It was a tough week for state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. 
 
On Monday, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the indictment of Clement Gardner, CFO of the Christian Community Benevolent Association — a nonprofit founded by Diaz in 1977 and which he ran until 2003.

On Wednesday, the federal corruption trial of Diaz’s friend and former colleague, ex-Sen. Pedro Espada, got under way.

In charges first brought to light in years of Post reporting, Espada is accused of looting hundreds of thousands from the Medicaid-funded Soundview Health Care Network to finance his lavish lifestyle and employ numerous relatives and associates.

The two cases shed light on New York’s kleptocratic culture, in which politicians use taxpayer dollars to enhance their political and personal status.

Schneiderman charges that Gardner embezzled as much as $400,000 from CCBA between January 2004 and May 2007 — a time when Diaz was showering the organization with cash through the corrupt member-item pork-barrel process.

Between 2003 and 2005, Diaz and his son, then-Assemblyman (now Bronx Borough President) Ruben Diaz Jr., reportedly directed $940,000 in member-item support to CCBA — a charity for the elderly and needy that would contribute nice sums to other Diaz-connected political organizations. In 2006 and 2007, Diaz the elder authorized another $500,000.

So, with $1.4 million in public money pouring in, should anyone be surprised that CFO Gardner — also Diaz’s onetime campaign treasurer — opted to help himself to some of the goodies?

Diaz claims to be “shocked” over the arrest, but isn’t worried that he might be implicated in the AG’s investigation, because “I’m not in the business of taking; I’m in the business of giving.”

Well, thanks for the clarity, senator.

That sentiment perfectly captures the essence of the culture: It’s about “giving,” all right — giving away other people’s money to friends, family members and “community” cronies.

Diaz Jr. has managed to mostly avoid scrutiny from the press because he hasn't run for a citywide office yet.

That will change if and when he decides to run for mayor.

It's one thing to challenge a sitting mayor running for re-election because said mayor appears to be corrupt and is facing five corruption probes.

It's another thing to challenge a mayor over corruption when you're corrupt yourself, as Ruben Diaz Jr. appears to be.

Moskowitz's backing of Diaz Jr. shows you how desperate she is to try and get some Eva-friendly face back in City Hall.

With the other Eva-friendly pol, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, saying (at least for now) that he wants to stay in Congress, Diaz Jr. may be Eva's best bet, but he surely is not a good one.

Even a routine Google search of "Ruben Diaz Jr." and "Corruption" pulls up some interesting information.

Imagine what we'll learn after Diaz Jr. announces a run and somebody drops the oppo research on Diaz Jr. and his corrupt family.

Jeb Bush Loves Pitbull

There are lots of reasons to dislike Jeb Bush - here's another one in this NY Times piece about Bush's alleged "sense of humor":

Jeb Bush had grown fond of Pitbull, the Miami performer gone global, who seemed to share his zeal for education policy. But Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor, had a question: Why the stage name? 

The artist replied that a friend had suggested it years ago while they were en route to a pit-bull fight.

“Well,” Mr. Bush replied at their meeting early this year, “good thing you weren’t on the way to a cockfight.”

Hey, great - Bush is pal's with misogynistic rapper/charter school entrepreneur Pitbull and can make penis jokes.

What a dick.

There - I can make penis jokes too.

One of the delights of this presidential season so far is to see that the more money Bush and his surrogates spend on pushing Bush as a candidate, the more people dislike him and his poll numbers plummet.

If he sticks around much longer, he's going to be in Jindal territory.

What The Clinton Shills Don't Get: Few Trust Hillary Clinton

Had some fun on Twitter with a Clinton shill calling me a liar for this post here entitled "Hillary Clinton Vows To Close Every Public School In The Country."

His message was basically the same one that I've seen elsewhere on the Internet as the "Clinton Wants To Destroy Public Education" meme has rolled along and Clinton shills have begun to push back on it - Clinton doesn't want to close all the schools that are rated "below average," as she said wanted to in the Iowa clip, she simply misspoke.

But the thing that Clinton shills and apologists don't get here is this - given Clinton's elasticity with truth and honesty, given her past fondness for school closures, DFER, charter schools, and the Common Core, given the fondness her pals at the Center for American Progress (basically a Clinton administration in exile ready to roll into power as soon as she's elected) have for this same stuff, given her shillery for Walmart in the past and given the fact that she's a Clinton and no one believes a word these people say, it doesn't matter what she really meant.

See, couple the Clinton administration's ed deform policies in the past with the betrayal that many felt when Barack Obama doubled down on the Bush ed deform policies of NCLB with his Race to the Top program and you have an entire generation of teachers out there not going to cut these lying politicians any slack when they "misspeak" or say stuff that sounds kooky (as Clinton did.)

The larger issue here for me, and why I even blogged the thing in the first place (if you notice, it's almost all Cuomo/NY all the time here at Perdido Street School blog these days, so I'm not doing much 2016 presidential race stuff) is that it was the perfect crystallization of the mistrust many teachers have for Democratic politicians in general and Clinton in particular.

That people didn't give her the benefit of the doubt over this "misspeak," that even now she needs the shills to go around defending her, goes to show you just how little trust or affection she has among many rank and file educators these days.

How do you know when a Clinton's lying?

You don't have to try and figure it out because they're ALWAYS lying.

Anybody Buying Hillary Clinton's Charter School Comments?

Finally! @HillaryClinton: Most charter schools don’t take hardest-to-teach kids or if they do they don’t keep them https://t.co/bdig2DJgeZ

— leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson) November 8, 2015

Don't see too many people on social media buying Clinton's comments about charter schools as anything other than expediency.

My take:

@Jeff_Bernstein Shows just how much has changed about charter narrative that she felt the need to say this.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) November 8, 2015

Make no mistake, the charter scandals from around the country, the "Got To Go" list pushout stories from NYC, the stories of abuse at charter chains like Success and Achievement First - these are doing serious damage to the charter narrative.

That Clinton's saying what she's saying doesn't mean she'll change the pro-charter policies from the Obama and Clinton administrations, of course.

Just that it's no longer a slam dunk talking point to declare charters the swellest thing ever.

Ruben Diaz Jr. Declares Himself Pro-Charter, Looks To Use Issue For Mayoral Run

The pro-charter mayoral possibilities just keep coming.

So far we have Hakeem Jeffries and Eva Moskowitz on the list of potential mayoral candidates.

With this move, we can add Ruben Diaz Jr:

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who has stayed out of the war over charter schools, has agreed to speak at a massive pro-charter event where he will defend the schools and declare, “Charters are here to stay.”

Although he heads a borough with 59 charter schools, Diaz has not been outspoken in the battles that have pitted charter-school operators against Mayor de Blasio and the teachers union.

That will change Wednesday when the six-year leader of The Bronx will speak at City Hall, where thousands of charter-school supporters are expected to converge following a rally at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and a march over the Brooklyn Bridge

“I support charter schools. I always have,” Diaz told The Post in an interview. “Charters schools are part of the public-school system. We need to offer all the support we can give them.”

The politics behind this are obvious:

Diaz dismissed talk that his role in the pro-charter rally is tied to a possible mayoral run in 2017.

“The education of children in The Bronx and the city of New York is way more important than anyone’s politics,” he said.

Political consultant George Arzt said Diaz’s decision to take such a high-profile role backing charters could distinguish him from rival Democrats down the road.

“People will view him from a different perspective,” Arzt said. “It definitely shows Ruben as a person who disagrees with the incumbent mayor. It show him as independent.”

While the borough president has stayed out of the limelight on the charter issue until now, his father, Bronx state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., has been a vocal and longtime charter-school booster.

Sure his role at the pro-charter rally has nothing to do with a potential run for mayor in 2017.

Sure.

Pro-Charter School Cuomo Official Spends Night In Drunk Tank, Second Alcohol-Related Arrest

Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

ALBANY — A former state assemblyman from Brooklyn who is now an aide to Gov. Cuomo spent a night behind bars last month after a late-night arrest in Buffalo's party district, the Daily News has learned.

Karim Camara, a pastor who heads Cuomo's new Office of Faith-Based Development Services, was arrested at 1:35 a.m. July 11 and charged with misdemeanor trespassing and a disorderly conduct violation after police said he became belligerent at Jim's Steakout sub shop.

Though the charges were ultimately dropped, Camara, who shop staff say was heavily intoxicated at the time, was forced to spend the night in a police holding cell.

Camara, who was previously arrested in 2007 on drunken driving charges, was hired in April by Cuomo for the newly created $150,000-a-year position after spending nearly a decade in the Legislature. He was in Buffalo to meet with religious leaders on state business, sources said.

Camara got aggressive with staff:

Camara had finished eating when he began "making threats to the staff," according to the Buffalo Police arrest report.

“Give me my food,” Camara demanded even though he had already eaten his sandwich and was holding the empty bag, the report says.

The staff asked him to leave, but he refused.

"The defendant was causing the staff and other patrons to be alarmed and annoyed," the report states.

Police intervened, telling Camara he had to go. "I don't have to leave, you can't tell me to leave," he responded, according to the arrest report.

When a cop persisted, Camara shot back: "I know my rights. You don't have the authority."

He was then arrested and placed in a cell until his arraignment later that day.

The store chose not to press charges because no one was physically assaulted, according to the Jim’s Steakout manager.

The case was ultimately dismissed by the court on July 21 and the record sealed.

Gee, funny that the store chose not to press charges.

Wonder if that had anything to do with the Camara's position in the Cuomo administration?

Camara told the DN no big deal:

"This was a regretful, unfortunate and — as demonstrated by the fact that everything was dismissed — overblown situation," said Camara. "I'm glad it's behind me."

Overblown situation?

Considering it's his second alcohol-related arrest, I'd say it's not 'overblown."

Rather I'd say it's an incident that demonstrates a pattern of bad and/or criminal behavior while intoxicated on Camara's part.

Here's how the first arrest went:

ALBANY – A Brooklyn state assemblyman was busted early yesterday in Albany on a DWI charge after police say they saw his car weaving and traveling at more than twice the speed limit.

In addition to being a state lawmaker, Karim Camara, 35, is also the executive director of the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights.

Police said Camara, a Democrat elected to the Assembly in November 2005, was driving a gray 2005 Honda 65 mph in a 30 mph zone and weaving when they stopped him at 1:45 a.m.

According to the police report, his speech was slurred, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, there was a “strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath.”

After failing several sobriety tests, Camara refused a Breathalyzer test, cops said.

The assemblyman appeared later yesterday morning in Albany City Court and was released on his own recognizance. He did not return a call for comment.

Sullio wonders:

Will Cuomo subject Camara to a "moral character review"? @perdidostschool @CuomoWatch https://t.co/ip1K69JnrX

— Sullio (@sullio) August 30, 2015

Indeed, it seems to me that Camara ought to be subject to a moral character review given the previous DWI and now the night he spent in the drunk tank.

Camara is a big supporter of charter schools, btw - you can see stories on that here, here and here.

Given the "no excuses" policies Camara's pals at the charters pursue, it's nice to see the boozy Camara wave off the night in the drunk tank, his second alcohol-related arrest, as "overblown."

Where I'm from, two alcohol-related arrests suggests, you know, an alcohol problem.

Where Camara's from, it's no big deal.

Protesting Dan Loeb's $5,000 A Head Fundraiser For Andrew Cuomo

Sounds like this is going to be a helluva party:

Busloads of labor activists and liberal operatives are headed Saturday to a place where they won’t be welcome: A fundraiser for Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a sprawling estate in the Hamptons.

...
The target of the Hedge Clippers this weekend is a $5,000-a-person East Hampton event in honor of the governor hosted by Daniel Loeb, a top hedge-fund manager based in New York City. Mr. Loeb is also a political fundraiser who, like Mr. Cuomo, has sparred with teachers unions and championed charter schools.

...

The activists plan to fly aerial banners over the grounds of the Loeb mansion as Mr. Cuomo’s donors nibble canapés and sip cocktails on the lawn.

Cuomo and Loeb will make like they don't care about the busloads of protesters, but a Loeb pal says, well, it's hard not to, you know?

The showdown has tony communities in the Hamptons slightly amused and slightly on edge.

“Dan Loeb is thick-skinned and relishes a fight,” said Euan Rellie, an investment banker who summers in the Hamptons and is a friend of Mr. Loeb’s. “But no successful business person wants to be seen as a remote billionaire living with pitchforks at the hedges. Who would want that?”

You can see more about Dan Loeb, Cuomo's fundraising pal, here.

Cuomo Gives Charter School Employees 15% Of Charter School Slots

Capitol Confidential has some of the surprises in the big end-of-session omnibus bill that was announced today and here's one that says everything you need to know about Cuomo's love of charter schools:

• Charter schools can give admission preferences to the children of employees of either the school or a charter management organization as long as those students don’t form more than 15 percent of the student body.

This is an interesting new move for the charter people, because what it suggests is that they will move even more in the future to make the city-housed and state-funded charters into their own fiefdoms run for and by themselves - but all on the public dime, of course.

Expect the 15% requirement to go up in the future and for charters to further use this regulation to keep out students they don't want (i.e., students who will hurt their test score numbers.)

Success Academy Board Member Daniel Loeb Hosts $5,000 A Head Fundraiser For Andrew Cuomo

Governor Cuomo came through for charter schools once again this legislative session, raising the charter cap by 180 and imposing a ton of new mandates on public schools that do not count for charters (i.e., the teacher evaluation system.)

And so the charter school supporters will pay Cuomo back for his political largesse:

Hedge fund manager and charter school advocate Daniel Loeb is standing by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

On the evening of Saturday July 11, he and his wife Margaret Munzer Loeb will host a fund-raiser for Cuomo at their residence in East Hampton, according to an invitation sent out to multiple donors and acquired by Capital.

Individual tickets for what is billed as an "intimate reception" will cost $5,000 each, though host committee sponsorships "are available."

Loeb had no comment as to why he was fund-raising for the governor.

He and his wife have donated to the governor in the past.

The Third Point C.E.O. serves on the board of StudentsFirstNY, a pro-charter advocacy group whose board members also include former schools chancellor Joel Klein and Success Academy Charter Schools founder Eva Moskowitz.

Loeb also chairs Success Academy's board and is one of Moskowitz's most stalwart supporters and defenders.

The hedge fund managers/charter school supporters started paying Cuomo off with cash before he ran for governor and it continues all the way until today.

He's gotten more than $4.8 million dollars in contributions from 570 hedge fund managers since 2000.

In addition, some of those same hedge fund managers contributed millions to a charter school shell group called Families For Excellent Schools that ran ads and lobbied for charter causes on Cuomo's behalf. FES was the winner in "Who Spent The Most Money Lobbying?" competition, dropping $9.7 million in 2014 on lobbying expenditures.

Then there was the shadowy group called the Committee To Save New York that spent millions on pro-Cuomo ads touting the governor's agenda. The group raised $12 million dollars from just 20 donors to help Cuomo out politically.

CSNY closed up shop when the law was changed and donors and contributors had to be revealed, but you can bet that there were some of the same names on the CSNY list that are on the Families For Excellent Schools, Students FirstNY and Success Academies list.

And let's not forget that StudentsFirstNY helped create New Yorkers For A Balanced Albany, an independent expenditure committee that dropped $4.2 million in support of a Republican takeover of the New York State Senate - having Republicans in charge in the state Senate has helped Cuomo push through his pro-charter, anti-public school agenda.

Judging from how much they've paid him over the years and how they continue to pay him now, shilling for charter schools and education has been a very profitable enterprise for Andrew Cuomo.

Carl Heastie: Senate Republicans Love Charters - Just Not In Their Own Districts

State of Politics:

Heastie on Friday reiterated the Assembly’s reticence to support lifting the cap on charter schools, which Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has linked to an extension of mayoral control in New York City.

“For the most part, the Assembly conference are not big supporters of charter schools,” Heastie said. “Charters are something Senate Republicans like to support. They never want them in their district.”

Indeed, John Flanagan loves charters - and charter school money.


How many charter schools are there on Long Island, where Flanagan is from?

Just five.

Flanagan and his fellow Senate Republicans from Long Island sure do love their charters - just not in their own districts.

Note To Cuomo: Charter Schools Are Destroying Catholic Schools In

Cuomo to the NY Times, trying to push his education tax credit/voucher giveaway:

In the interview, Mr. Cuomo cited Catholic schools closing “all over the place,” and said the opposition to the legislation was being driven by teachers’ unions.

“They don’t want the competition of these schools where they don’t represent the members,” Mr. Cuomo said, adding: “There’s no principle here. There’s no argument.”

He said that Assembly members opposed to the proposal were upstate members being pressured by the statewide teachers’ union, New York State United Teachers, as well as “the predictable sort of Manhattan liberals” concerned about the separation of church and state.

The biggest competition to Catholic schools these days is not the public schools - it's charter schools.

You want to help Catholic schools, governor?

Stop shilling for the charters.

Kathy Hochul: Best Way To Support Public Schools Is By Taking Money From Them, Giving It To Private Schools And Charters

Here is a commentary by Kathy Holhul at Syracuse.com in which she asserts overcrowding and poor building conditions in public schools are good reasons to support more charter schools and tax credits for private schools:

Many critics try to argue that alternative schools, such as religious and charter schools, are somehow hurting the overall education system by taking away resources from traditional public schools. They argue that the governor should revoke all support for religious or charter schools – effectively abandoning those students – to focus just on public schools. They claim that this would be fair, but this just doesn't stand up to reason and here's why: 

There are roughly 4,500 public schools across the state – many of which are at capacity or overcrowded, and some are even utilizing trailers as classrooms. One hundred seventy-eight of those schools are failing, and many of them have been for 10 years or more.

Now imagine if the more than 400,000 students who are currently in charter or private schools – representing approximately 15 percent of the state's student population – had to attend one of those at-capacity, overcrowded or failing public schools. Who benefits from that scenario? Surely not the public school students who would find classroom space and resources stretched even further.

Can you follow the logic?

Many public schools are overcrowded, there's not enough space to house students in classrooms so decrepit trailers are used instead - and the way to solve these problems is to take money that could go to public schools and alleviate overcrowding and build new facilities and give that money to charters and private schools instead.

This is the same Kathy Hochul that AFT President Randi Weingarten robocalled for during the Democratic primary, claiming she was an excellent advocate for public schools.

Here's some advocacy for you - Hochul says public schools are overcrowded and falling apart, so let's take money that could go to public schools and give it to charters and private schools instead.

Will The Heavy Hearts In The Assembly Hold The Line On Cuomo's Voucher Bill?

From State of Politics:

The EITC is now going through some rebranding with the introduction of the new bill: It’s now called the Parental Choice in Education Act. 

The measure would provide up to $150 million in annual tax credits aimed at low-income families who want to send their children to non-public schools, scholarships for children in households with qualifying incomes to attend a public school outside of their district or private school and incentives for public districts to provide new programming, like after-school programs.

Early indications are, there are not enough heavy hearts in the Assembly to bring the rebranded voucher bill to the floor for a vote

Even if supporters can muster the needed votes, Heastie indicated that bringing the bill to the floor would require a majority of the Democratic conference’s support.

“It’s been our position that there is a majority for a reason and we feel that to really move bills in this house we should have a consensus of enough Democrats to pass the bill,” he said.

Of course these are heavy hearts we're talking about, so a little heavy pressure on them could make them pass this thing just the way they passed the odious budget this past April.

One unmknown here - Cuomo's consort Sandra Lee is undergoing cancer treatment and Cuomo says he's stepping away from some of his gubernatorial duties to support her.

The question is, with the legislative session ending in June and Cuomo allegedly stepping away from hands-on governance for a couple of weeks to deal with a family issue, how much pressure will he try and put on the heavy hearts?

Education Reformer Jeanne Allen Says Baltimore Riots Are A Call For More Charter Schools

A picture of a deleted tweet by Jeanne Allen, founder of the Center for Education Reform:

So public schools are one of the causes of the civil unrest in Baltimore?

Uh, huh.

Here's one response:

@EdgeofSports @alexisgoldstein @sarahljaffe @JeanneAllen So Baltimore has 31 charter schools. How many more will it take to "save" the city?
— Michelle Arnson (@MEGArnson) April 28, 2015

And of course Allen's Center For Education Reform (she is now president-emeritus of the organization) lives off the "philanthropy" money:

So @JeanneAllen seems to have blocked me and deleted the tweet. Big org, $2.5 mil from Walton for ed in 4 years -> pic.twitter.com/h83pF15H2y
— Kombiz Lavasany (@kombiz) April 28, 2015

Allen is a long-time proponent of public school privatization - here's her supporting the takeover of Philadelphia public schools by the for-profit Edison Schools:

Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, understands the enthusiasm for privatization in areas where public education has failed dismally. These companies are willing to be held accountable for their performance by contract.

"It's very refreshing for people for whom failure in public education presents a sense of urgency," she said.

Clearly Allen is on board with using whatever means necessary to hand over the public schools to her charter entrepreneur pals and sugar daddies.

This tweet sums things up:

.@JeanneAllen is out here using Freddie Gray's death as a vehicle to push charter schools. Disgusting pic.twitter.com/zfBZOcqmuj
— Brian Fleurantin (@BrFleurantin) April 28, 2015

Indeed.

Daily News Carries Andrew Cuomo's Education Reform Water

No links to these stories (they don't need the extra traffic) but the Daily News is doing a five days "New York's Schools In Crisis" extravaganza that is intended to help Governor Cuomo push through his education reform agenda - including "toughened" teacher evaluations, a lifted charter cap, more money for charter schools and state takeover of "failing" schools and districts.

The stories use the same frame that Families For Excellent Schools uses for their "Schools In Crisis" meme, the same frame Governor Cuomo has used in speeches and his budget proposal - public schools suck and it's the fault of the teachers.

They use the new Common Core test scores - the ones the state deliberately set for 70% failing rates - to prove that NYC schools are failing and something dramatic needs to be done.

The stories have parents directly blaming the teachers at their children's schools for why the scores are so low, why the schools are struggling (one parent blames her child's public school for "destroying" his whole outlook on school and life.)

This is "New York Schools In Crisis" extravaganza isn't journalism, it's advocacy intended to push a set of policies the owner of the Daily News, Mort Zuckerman, and his editors want.

The DN claims this is "comprehensive" look at what's working in the system and what isn't, but as far as I could tell, this was a propaganda piece to highlight the worst parts of the system and ignore everything else.

The Daily News itself is a newspaper in crisis - it loses $20 million a year and is up for sale - so this ed deform extravaganza is just another way they're trying to drive some traffic, sell some papers and pick up a little advertising revenue.

It certainly is NOT a fair and honest look at the city school system, however - not when they use the same misleading stats that FES and Cuomo does (like the rigged Common Core tests) and ignore the many great schools in this system to focus on the one's they call most "dire," all in order to prove the system is failing and needs to be dramatically overhauled.

Make no mistake, this five part series coming right as budget talks in Albany are heating up and just two weeks before the deadline for an on-time budget is meant to help Governor Cuomo get his education reforms enshrined into law.

Time For An Education Summit That Doesn't Emanate From The Governor's Office

Ken Mitchell, former superintendent of the South Orangetown school district and current associate professor of education at Manhattanville College:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for another overhaul of the state's flawed teacher evaluation system. The current model was rushed into place so New York could qualify for federal Race To The Top dollars, and has failed to gather accurate information about teacher quality. If Albany's efforts to wrest control from local districts to advance a politically motivated education agenda are successful, the results will be damaging to students and fiscally wasteful, while offering no credible information about teacher performance. It is time for an education summit, but not one that emanates from the governor's office.

The governor has appointed commissions on mandate relief, school reform, and Common Core, naming members who often lacked expertise or objectivity. This time we need a summit involving stakeholders: teachers, principals, superintendents, parents and school boards. We need a de-politicized venue to ensure an objective analysis of the evidence behind current and proposed reforms related to assessment, teacher evaluation, Common Core and charter schools. If policymakers continue to mandate without evidence and allow profiteers to influence educational decisions, children will be harmed and public education ruined.

Read the whole piece - Mitchell asks the right questions about Cuomo's agenda, including:

What is the evidence for using student test results to rate teachers?

Only 20% of teachers teach subjects with yearly state tests - will the state need to develop more tests for all disciplines and grade levels? If so, what would be the cost?

While the public is told that charters are the "solution" to failing schools, what is the evidence? Have charters helped children with significant learning challenges succeed? Why should the public subsidize privatization?

What is the evidence to support that state or private takeovers succeed? What did New York learn from taking over the the Roosevelt School District on Long Island? What did Louisiana learn from the New Orleans charter school takeover?

What was the empirical basis for the Common Core and associated tests? Do they consider the cognitive development of children?

Mitchell concludes:

It is time for a summit. New York would serve as a model to the nation by developing an objective, comprehensive, research-rich analysis of its school reform agenda to ensure that we are helping, not harming, the children in our schools.

 That sounds right to me.

Small Coterie Of Hedge Fundies Have Bought New York State And Governor Cuomo

Juan Gonzalez in the Daily News:

Hedge fund executives have unleashed a tsunami of money the past few years aimed at getting New York’s politicians to close more public schools and expand charter schools.

They’ve done it through direct political contributions, through huge donations to a web of pro-charter lobbying groups, and through massive TV and radio commercials.

Since 2000, 570 hedge fund managers have shelled out nearly $40 million in political contributions in New York State, according to a recent report by Hedge Clippers, a union-backed research group.
The single biggest beneficiary has been Andrew Cuomo, who received $4.8 million from them.

...

But the direct donations don’t tell the full story.

In this era after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case, the indirect contributions are even more astounding.

Take, for example, a group called New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany. It financed a massive advertising campaign late last year aimed at keeping the state Senate in Republican hands, largely by blasting upstate Democrats as tied to Mayor de Blasio.

That group received $3.5 million from just six hedge fund backers of charter schools.

...

Two other pro-charter groups, Families for Excellent Schools and the political arm of Students First New York, spent more than $10 million last year on their lobbying effort.

If you're a reader of this blog, you know that Andrew Cuomo was on the take from the hedge fund managers long before he became governor.

As the NY Times reported in 2010, Cuomo met with these same hedge fundies who have donated so much money to these pro-charter front groups in a hotel room and took a suitcase full of campaign cash and promise for even more future campaign cash back to the office with him:

When Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo wanted to meet certain members of the hedge fund crowd, seeking donors for his all-but-certain run for governor, what he heard was this: Talk to Joe.

That would be Joe Williams, executive director of a political action committee that advances what has become a favorite cause of many of the wealthy founders of New York hedge funds: charter schools.

Wall Street has always put its money where its interests and beliefs lie. But it is far less common that so many financial heavyweights would adopt a social cause like charter schools and advance it with a laserlike focus in the political realm.

Hedge fund executives are thus emerging as perhaps the first significant political counterweight to the powerful teachers unions, which strongly oppose expanding charter schools in their current form.
After hearing from Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Williams arranged an 8 a.m. meeting last month at the Regency Hotel, that favorite spot for power breakfasts, between Mr. Cuomo and supporters of his committee, Democrats for Education Reform, who include the founders of funds like Anchorage Capital Partners, with $8 billion under management; Greenlight Capital, with $6.8 billion; and Pershing Square Capital Management, with $5.5 billion.

Although the April 9 breakfast with Mr. Cuomo was not a formal fund-raiser, the hedge fund managers have been wielding their money to influence educational policy in Albany, particularly among Democrats, who control both the Senate and the Assembly but have historically been aligned with the teachers unions.

They have been contributing generously to lawmakers in hopes of creating a friendlier climate for charter schools. More immediately, they have raised a multimillion-dollar war chest to lobby this month for a bill to raise the maximum number of charter schools statewide to 460 from 200.

The money has paid for television and radio advertisements, phone banks and some 40 neighborhood canvassers in New York City and Buffalo — all urging voters to put pressure on their lawmakers.
...
The financial titans, who tend to send their children to private schools, would not seem to be a natural champion of charter schools, which are principally aimed at poor, minority students.

But the money managers are drawn to the businesslike way in which many charter schools are run; their focus on results, primarily measured by test scores; and, not least, their union-free work environments, which give administrators flexibility to require longer days and a longer academic year.

It also does not hurt that the city’s No. 1 billionaire, Mr. Bloomberg, is a strong charter school supporter. He is the host of the fund-raiser for Mr. Hoyt, and at times, Democrats for Education Reform seems an extension of the mayor’s own platform.

Besides more charter schools, the group and the mayor have called for ending the use of seniority as a basis for layoffs and for granting principals more power to fire teachers they consider ineffective.

Mr. Cuomo also has expressed support for charter schools. A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo declined to answer questions about the breakfast at the Regency, but Mr. Williams said it had gone well.

“We said we were looking for a leader on our particular issue,” he said, and as a result, when Mr. Cuomo is next required to disclose his contributors, “You will see a bunch of our people on the filing.”

Same old story with Cuomo - hedge fundie cash goes into his coffers, education reform policies come out of his office and (almost always) into law.

Former Assembly Speaker Silver has been indicted for monetizing his office and taking $4 million in kickbacks and bribes.

Governor Cuomo, who has taken even more than Silver from the hedge fundies to push their privatization plans, remains free and clear to continue to push for his donors' policies.

Weingarten Tries To Spin Her Support Of Bank Lobbyist/Ed Deformer Kathy Hochul

AFT President Randi Weingarten and Arthur Goldstein were having a twitter conversation today over Weingarten's support of Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul during the primary (which you can read about here.)

Weingarten robocalled for Hochul during a pivotal moment of the campaign when it looked like challenger Tim Wu could actually pull off an upset.

She wasn't the only "progressive" dragged out for the robocalls by the Cuomo campaign - NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio taped one as well.

After Wu lost the primary to Hochul, he said that his campaign's internal polls had shown him closing on Hochul, but the tide turned after the robocalls went out.

It seems prominent "progressives" like de Blasio and Weingarten supporting Hochul assured enough New York City voters that she was all right, they could safely vote for her.

Weingarten has continually claimed that supporting Hochul publicly was payback for Hochul's support of public education when she was in Congress - but Hochul was only in Congress a short period of time (less than one-full term), so that rationale for Hochul support is absurd.

Weingarten has also said she doesn't think Hochul is in the "everything against" camp when it comes to public education, but as we know from history, any time anybody works for Andrew Cuomo, you either do EVERYTHING Cuomo wants you to do or you don't take the job.

So Hochul's acceptance of the LG gig under Cuomo was an explicit admission that she would be in the "everything against" camp because that's where her boss, Andrew Cuomo, wants her.

Which is EXACTLY where she was this week as she keynoted for the Cuomo administration at Eva Moskowitz's pro-charter Albany rally.

I try and stay out of the Weingarten jive-fests on Twitter these days because it's unproductive trying to argue with a pathological liar, but every once in a while Randi's lies, half-truths and evasions get to be too much and I have to jump in.

This is one of those times:

@TeacherArthurG -I'm more disappointed abt her silence abt public schooling in general--- quite different from when she was in Congress
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 7, 2015

To which I replied:

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Who are you kidding? You knew EXACTLY what Hochul would be like as Cuomo's LG.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Anybody who works for Cuomo does EXACTLY as he wants - as Hochul is doing shilling deform.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Your robocalls for Hochul were essentially robocalls for Cuomo - as many have pointed out.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG And just in case you think this wasn't pointed out at the time http://t.co/AX9KMqVy3M
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

Mary Ahern made another good point about the way Weingarten helped out the Cuomo campaign during the primary:

.@perdidostschool @TeacherArthurG Add this 2 @rweingarten 's defense of Cuomo's statemnts vowing 2 destroy pub. schl monopoly, I smell a RAT
— Mary Ahern (@mma718) March 7, 2015

Which reminded me about this:

@mma718 @TeacherArthurG @rweingarten Yes - she excused it as just "campaign rhetoric," even though she'd heard him b4.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@mma718 @TeacherArthurG @rweingarten Randi was there when Andy trotted rhetoric out first http://t.co/pqyDwmvvCY
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

Weingarten replied just once to my tweets:

@perdidostschool @TeacherArthurG -sorry to disappoint you- no deals...
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 7, 2015

To which I replied:

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Then who called you to tape the robocall at the EXACT moment Wu's poll #'s were rising?
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

So far, no response from Weingarten on that.

This back and forth with Randi gets tiring after awhile, which is why I don't engage in it much anymore, but every once in a while it's important to jump in a point out how full of crap Randi is.

To that end, I'll finish this post with I think the takeway from all this is:

@TeacherArthurG @rweingarten I usually stay out of the Randi jive-fests these days, but her Hochul support is egregious
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@TeacherArthurG @rweingarten In Cuomo admin, she will do as Cuomo says. That's basis for putting her in "against" camp
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

Four Minutes Of Families For Excellent Schools Attitude

So a spokesman for the hedge fundie-backed Families For Excellent Schools met with reporters today to talk about the pro-charter rally up in Albany and things got, well, a little strained:



That wasn't the only misstep from the FES spokesman:

He said some 160 organizations took part, and claimed the rally attracted 13,000 participants — an estimate that strained the credulity of many of the reporters on hand, mainly because they had viewed the event with their own eyes. (Also, the group’s permit was for 7,500 participants, which seemed far closer to the visible number of people on hand.)

I'm not sure why Eva Moskowitz and these charter operators and supporters would go to such trouble to put on a PR performance piece like today's rally, then screw all that lovely PR up by claiming a ridiculous attendee count and then getting into a verbal skirmish with reporters.

But that's what they did.

Unforced errors on their end.

NYSUT Writes To Cuomo, Tisch To Ask Why Charter Operators Get To Cancel School For A Political Rally

Via State of Politics, here is part of the letter Karen Magee and Andy Pallotta sent to Cuomo, Tisch and the shill who's filling in temporarilty for John King:

New York State United Teachers is seeking your views on several important questions raised by the upcoming Success Academy event. As a matter of policy, should Success Academy Charter Schools, Inc., as taxpayer-funded public schools, be permitted to close their doors and transport students, parents and staff to Albany for a rally? Even if they use substantial private funds, is this the “right thing for students?”

...

“If school boards and superintendents in the state’s nearly 700 school districts also wish to close en masse for a day and transport thousands of their students, parents and staff to Albany to lobby for additional state funding, would that be permissible? Would you consider closing traditional public schools for a rally to be good public policy and the ” right thing” for all students?”

Cuomo is of course on the charter school payroll, with charter operators and their supporters contributing significant amounts of money to both his campaign coffers and the state Democratic Party coffers (which has used that money to run ads promoting Cuomo and his agenda.)

He's also expressed much adminration for both charter schools and the people who own, er, run them.

So if I had to guess, I'd say he isn't upset at all that charter operators are closing their schools and heading up to Albany for some made-for-TV PR.

Especially since Cuomo himself was "pivotal" in last years "Let's Close Schools And Cheer For Charter Schools Rally" in Albany:

It was a frigid February day in Albany, and leaders of New York City’s charter school movement were anxious. They had gone to the capital to court lawmakers, but despite a boisterous showing by parents, there seemed to be little clarity about the future of their schools.
 

Then, as they were preparing to head home, an intermediary called with a message: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wanted to meet.
 

To their surprise, Mr. Cuomo offered them 45 minutes of his time, in a private conference room. He told them he shared their concern about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambivalence toward charter schools and offered to help, according to a person who attended but did not want to be identified as having compromised the privacy of the meeting.
 

In the days that followed, the governor’s interest seemed to intensify. He instructed charter advocates to organize a large rally in Albany, the person said. The advocates delivered, bringing thousands of parents and students, many of them black, Hispanic, and from low-income communities, to the capital in early March, and eclipsing a pivotal rally for Mr. de Blasio taking place at virtually the same time.
 

...
 

At his prekindergarten rally, before a smaller crowd at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, Mr. de Blasio spoke about the value of early education. Not far away, a much larger crowd of charter school supporters was gathered on the steps of the State Capitol. In an act that his aides later said was spontaneous, Mr. Cuomo joined the mass of parents and students. 

“You are not alone,” he told the roaring crowd. “We will save charter schools.”

I'm glad to see NYSUT trying to put pressure on Tisch and Cuomo over the pro-charter rally, but these people are beyond shame, so I doubt it will get much of a reaction from them.

However it is good to get the news out there that charters are closing their doors on a school day and busing the kids up to Albany for a political rally.

Would the politicians who will speak at the pro-charter rally be so matter-if-fact if public schools closed on a school day and bused everybody up to Albany for a pro-public school rally?

I hope that question makes it into the press coverage of the pro-charter rally this week.